Review: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

STOLEN: A LETTER TO MY CAPTOR

Author: Lucy Christopher

Publication Date: 05/04/2009

Audience: Young Adult

Genre: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction

It happened like this. I was stolen from an airport. Taken from everything I knew, everything I was used to. Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected me to love him.

This is my story.

A letter from nowhere.

Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back?

The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist - almost.

 

Summary from Goodreads

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Review: The Impossible Knife of Memory

THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson

Publication Date: 01/07/2014

Audience: YA

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction

For the past five years, Hayley Kincain and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.

Will being back home help Andy’s PTSD, or will his terrible memories drag him to the edge of hell, and drugs push him over? The Impossible Knife of Memory is Laurie Halse Anderson at her finest: compelling, surprising, and impossible to put down.

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Panic by Lauren Oliver

PANIC Author: Lauren Oliver Publication Date: 04/04/2014 Audience: Young Adult Genre: Contemporary, Romance    

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

  Picture and Summary from Goodreads     REVIEW  

Ooookay so I'm pretty sure I went into this with the wrong expectations. I'm not really even sure what I was expecting but what Panic ended up being was not what I thought. That being said it was still an ok read. For the people comparing this to Hunger Games, you guys didn't read the same book that I did. Panic is really more a coming of age, rite of passage type of book. It's gritty and surprisingly real life, a story set in poor town USA with a cast of teens dealing with their own issues. The...more Ooookay so I'm pretty sure I went into this with the wrong expectations. I'm not really even sure what I was expecting but what Panic ended up being was not what I thought. That being said it was still an ok read. For the people comparing this to Hunger Games, you guys didn't read the same book that I did. Panic is really more a coming of age, rite of passage type of book. It's gritty and surprisingly real life, a story set in poor town USA with a cast of teens dealing with their own issues. The game of panic is something you would hear about happening in the real world, a group of kids performing dangerous dares for an endgame prize. The pacing at times was slow and for me kind of dry but it still had heart racing excitement and suspense that kept me turning the page. Overall while I did enjoy parts of Panic, there were still moments where I was easily distracted from the story. Could be that it just wasn't my cup of tea. ~ Goodreads ~